Up against PES's Martin Schulz, backed by Italy's majority PD

(ANSA) - Brussels, March 7 - The centre-right European
People's Party (EPP) on Friday elected former Luxembourg Prime
Minister Jean-Claude Juncker as its European Commission
presidential candidate, the EU Christian Democrats said in a
statement.

Juncker beat his French rival Michel Barnir by 382 votes
against 245 at the EPP congress in Dublin organized ahead of
European Parliament elections in May.

The EPP is currently the largest grouping in the European
Parliament.

Last month, the rival Party of European Socialists (PES) of
which the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) of Italian Premier
Matteo Renzi has just become a member, confirmed as its
presidential candidate current European Parliament President
Martin Schulz.

The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe (ALDE)
chose Guy Verhofstadt as their candidate.

The parliamentary group which wins the highest number of
seats in May will appoint their candidate as European Commission
president.

Renzi's Democratic Party (PD) last month was admitted to
the Party of European Socialists.

The PD, the biggest party in the Italian parliament, had
previously stayed out of the PES due to differences within its
ranks, which include former communists and ex-supporters of the
centrist Christian Democrat (DC) party that dominated the
country's politics before collapsing in corruption scandals in
the 1990s.